The conference

It has been estimated that up to 80 percent of crashes and 65 percent of near-crashes involve inattention as a contributing factor, and that distraction is a factor in about a quarter of these. Distraction and inattention are therefore significant road safety problems, around the world.

The contribution of distraction as a factor in road trauma is likely to increase as more distractions, inside and outside the vehicle, compete for driver attention. As the role of distraction and inattention in crashes and near-misses has become clearer, countermeasure development has been intensified. Simultaneously, there has been an increased focus on the fundamental science of attention in modern neuroscience research.

This conference, which follows from the highly successful First International Conference on Driver Distraction and Inattention (held in Gothenburg in 2009; www.chalmers.se/safer/driverdistraction-en; the papers from the first conference are available at this website), aims again to bring together stakeholders from these different fields. All papers submitted for this conference are peer-reviewed by two experts in the field.

The 2nd International Conference on Driver Distraction and Inattention aims to bring participants up-to date on recent developments in the field, to bring into the spotlight developments in research from neighbouring disciplines that have an important bearing on the problem, and to showcase new and emerging technologies, products and other countermeasures which have significant potential to prevent or mitigate distraction and inattention. It will be a key event for anyone working on these topics.